60 Mushrooms! Wait
by NoroLimAsfaloth
Summary: I swear you'll never know more about the number 60. Math story.


Sixty Mushrooms! Wait...  
By: NoroLimAsfaloth  
  
It was a beautiful day in the Shire. The birds were singing, the sun was just rising over the hills, and the sparkling drops of dew still glittered on the grass and leaves. A lone robin began a beautiful song, it's voice rising to high intervals, and slowly descending down to lower notes again. It's song was like a wave, rising and falling. The clear notes rang through-  
  
"LOOK!"  
  
The silence of the morning was broken by the yelling and footsteps of four hobbits. Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin were their names.  
  
"Sixty MUSHROOMS!" Pippin yelled.  
  
Frodo looked at him strangely. "You counted?"  
  
Pippin nodded. Frodo rolled his eyes.  
  
They all quickly sighted the patch of mushrooms a ways down the road and ran as fast as their short legs could carry them towards the delicious fungi. Pippin's eyes were bright with joy at the idea of eating his favorite food. His eyes suddenly widened. The mushrooms they were chasing had, without warning, grown legs and were now running down the path at an unbelievable speed! Pippin stopped in his disbelief. The other three hobbits hadn't noticed him stop. Frodo and Merry stopped just before they hit Pippin, but Sam crashed into them and they all fell like dominoes onto the ground.  
  
After a bit of untangling of limbs, they all got up and glared at Sam. He shrugged sheepishly.  
  
Pippin pointed down the road. "The mushrooms, they ran away!"  
  
They all looked at him like he was crazy. "Nice try Pippin, we're not- " Merry started, but stopped as they all saw the last of the mushrooms running away.  
  
Merry pouted. "Our sixty mushrooms are gone....And it was an even number too. I like eating even numbers of things..."  
  
Sam looked at him strangely. "You're weird." He said.  
  
Merry glared at him.  
  
Pippin looked at Merry. "I know all about sixty. I bet I know more than you."  
  
Merry snorted. "Sure you do."  
  
"I bet you don't know what sixties' ordinal name is." Pippin crossed his arms.  
  
"Yes I do. It's sixtieth," Merry said.  
  
"Oh yeah, I know sixties' Roman numeral and you don't."  
  
"Then what is it?" Merry challenged.  
  
"DS," Pippin said proudly.  
  
The other hobbits looked at each other and burst out laughing. "No it's not, it's LX," Sam said.  
  
Pippin glared at his friends. "Well, I made a mistake. Oh well."  
  
"If you add one zero to sixty you get six million and if you add two zero's you get six hundred," Pippin announced proudly.  
  
The other hobbits started laughing all over again. "No you don't, if you add one zero you get six hundred and if you add two you get six thousand," Sam corrected him again.  
  
"Well, someone told it to me wrong," Pippin spluttered.  
  
"Sure..." Sam laughed.  
  
"They did!" He insisted.  
  
They all gave him looks.  
  
Pippin looked mad. "Come on let's keep looking for our mushrooms," he said. The foursome started to walk down the path again.  
  
"Lets have a contest about sixty while we look-Sam and I," Pippin said, trying to regain his composure. "You think you know so much about sixty Sam. Frodo, you be the judge. Merry, you keep score."  
  
They all shrugged. "Okay, what is the opposite of sixty?" Frodo asked.  
  
"Negative sixty!" Sam said.  
  
"Zero!" Pippin said at the same time.  
  
"Sam got it right. One point for Sam," Frodo said. Merry nodded and held up a finger. "What do you get when you add negative ten to negative sixty?" Frodo asked again.  
  
"Negative seventy!" Sam said.  
  
"What's adding?" Pippin asked, bewildered.  
  
Frodo sighed. "One point for Sam," Merry held up two fingers. Sam looked triumphantly at Pippin. Pippin gave him a dirty look.  
  
"All right, are there any geometric figures associated with sixty? If so, what is it?" Frodo said.  
  
"No," Sam answered.  
  
"Geometric figures?" Pippin echoed.  
  
"One point for Sam." Frodo looked at Merry. Merry held up three fingers. "What is the square root of sixty?" Frodo looked at the two opponents.  
  
"Um, two?" Pippin said hesitantly.  
  
"Seven point seven four five nine six six six nine two etcetera," Sam replied. Frodo, Merry, and Pippin stared at him.  
  
"How in Middle Earth did you know that?" Merry asked.  
  
Sam looked embarrassed. "My Old Gaffer told me."  
  
They all shook their heads. "Okay, one point for Sam," Frodo said. "What is negative sixty plus seventy?"  
  
"Ten," Sam said.  
  
"Negative three?" Pippin answered uncertainly.  
  
Frodo sighed. "One-" Merry cut him off and held up another finger. "How many zeros did I add to sixty if I end up with sixty million?"  
  
Pippin counted on his fingers. "Five," He said.  
  
"Six," Sam said.  
  
Frodo nodded at Sam. "I'm going to say a fraction and you convert it to a decimal. Okay, one-sixtieth."  
  
Pippin looked confused.  
  
Sam thought for a moment. "Zero point one six, six, six, etcetera," The hobbits stared at him again. He shrugged. "My Old Gaffer taught me..."  
  
Frodo nodded. "Sam gets the point. All right, last question. It's worth five points. Name all the factors of sixty."  
  
"One, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, nine..." Pippin guessed.  
  
"One and sixty, two and thirty, three and twenty, four and fifteen, five and twelve, six and ten," Sam answered without taking a breath.  
  
Frodo nodded. "Sam wins with eleven points," Sam smirked at Pippin. Pippin scowled.  
  
"I guess Sam knows more than you do about sixty after all, Pippin," Merry said.  
  
"Yeah, sure," Pippin said.  
  
Sam just had to gloat on his victory. "I know that there are sixty minutes in an hour and sixty seconds in a minute. And if you get a horse to go sixty miles an hour, unlikely, you would be going a mile a minute. And, did you know that a guy who looks just like Saruman with short hair and a short beard hosts a show called Sixty Minutes?"  
  
Pippin shot him a death glare. Suddenly he tripped over a rock and fell. Of course, Merry, Frodo, and Sam fell on top of him.  
  
"Oof!" Pippin puffed. They all rolled off him. As Pippin spit the dirt out of his mouth he realized what had cushioned his fall. "The sixty Mushrooms are back!" He shouted. They were strewn all over the road; apparently their legs had disappeared for some reason. The hobbits immediately all started stuffing their faces.  
  
Sam looked up from his mushroom for a moment. "Did you know that there are sixty calories in four of these mushrooms?"  
  
The End  
  
/ 


End file.
